Blackwell Family Howard Blackwell Helen Thomas Blackwell (wife)Elizabeth City Post Office Monday noon, May 3d 1920. Dear Sweetheart, Mr. Bailey and I are waiting for repairs to his "Ford", before we pursue more logs in the country. So I am free to send you a few lines. The weather is still fair and cool. Yesterday we went to see some cypress logs lying near where they were cut. It was a delightful excursion. The cypress grows in swamps, or near water. These trees had grown in a thicket on one of the arms of Albermarl Sound called Little River. They must have been fine trees, for the logs are many of them two feet in diameter at the smaller end, and beautiful, "clear" logs. "Clear" means free from knots or branches. We went as far as we could in the Ford. Then we had the good luck to attract the attention of a man with a motor-boat, who was half a mile away. It turned out that he knew Mr. Bailey, and he took us about a mile up this brown arm of the sound and guided us to the cypress logs. We have agreed to buy them, -- 150,000 ft or more!-3- and impartial. It records the facts and the opinions of all parties and of all classes. We ask you, therefore, to fill out and mail to us promptly the enclosed post-paid Presidential Primary Ballot, naming your present party preference, and the man you now think ought to be the presidential nominee of your party. Please do this whether you do the second thing we ask or not. Despite the unofficial character of this Primary, its wide scope and its absolute freedom from any editorial or partisan control or prejudice will give it the greatest interest and value to the leaders and voters of all parties. It is likely to have a big influence on the nomination, and if you and everyone else to whom we are sending this request shall respond by mailing the Ballot promptly, it may actually decide the choice. To vote will cost you nothing, and will not obligate you in any way. THE SECOND THING IS THIS: Join us in watching and interpreting this Nation-wide Presidential Primary, in studying the great questions of the Campaign, in defeating dangerous propaganda, and helping to steer America into the harbor of safety, peace, and prosperity next November. As soon as the returns come in, State by State, in this Presidential Primary, (and the votes probably will run up into the millions), we shall record them and analyze them from week to week in the Literary Digest. The whole country will watch these reports with the keenest interest. Everybody will be eager to get them, but they will be received first, of course, by Digest readers. At the same time, and all through the year, we shall be gathering carefully, and reporting in The Literary Digest, all the facts and opinions on all sides bearing upon the great problems and issues which are being discussed and which must be settled by the national election. You cannot depend, in such a critical campaign, upon one report, or one editorial opinion, or even half a dozen, but you know that these serious controversies, affecting our whole destiny as a Nation, can't possibly be settled right until we have all the facts and a complete, impartial consensus of opinions on all sides. You want not only to be clear and right in your own mind, but you want, in a pure spirit of patriotism, to help your neighbors to get their facts and opinions straight. The Literary Digest is wonderfully equipped for this service by a system built up at great expense through many years of careful work, and reaching into thousands of newspaper and periodical offices in all parts of the world. There is nothing like it, and no service you could get for love or money could take its place. So indispensable has it become to leaders in all departments of the Nation's life, that there is scarcely a public man of any prominence or influence in the United States who is not among its million and more regular purchasers. You will be able to depend upon The Literary Digest with absolute certainty as it reveals to you, free from all prejudice and partisanship, the real state of the Nation's mind, the real facts affecting all issues, and the progress of all the great problems toward settlement. Will you not, therefore, oblige us very much by marking and mailing the enclosed Ballot within the next ten days. You can do it anonymously, and by doing it you incur no obligation of any kind whatever. Then if, in your own interest, to bring the national and world-wide service of The Literary Digest every week during the coming year into your home or office, you will sign and mail also, separately, the other card, we shall be greatly pleased. The cost of this Digest service is very trifling, only four dollars for fifty-two weeks, but you will find its value beyond measure. Very sincerely yours. THE EDITORS OF THE LITERARY DIGEST. P. S. When the business department sends you the receipt for your Digest subscription order, we will have enclosed with it a Pocket Political Map of the United States which we have just prepared, in card form, showing how each State cast its electoral vote in the Presidential Campaigns of 1895, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1916, with other information which you will find very useful for reference during the coming campaign. 2. Already, they are being "rafted" today, - that is put into the water and chained together, to be towed to our mill. I wish you could have been with me, and George & John too. The birds were singing with their evening songs. The trees were beautiful shades of light-green, and the sunset spread a golden glow over all. I steered the motor boat, and Dr Bailey let me drive the Ford. So I have fifteen miles, at least, to my credit towards my license! He complimented me on my dining. I wonder how Marguerite is progressing. I must leave tomorrow, Tuesday! for East Orange. But I have given things a good push, and had a splendid vacation in the country with all the fresh, warm milk I can drink, and good, quiet nights. I really must bring George with me sometime. He would profit by the trip, just as I did by my trip to Thomasville when I was his age. The yellow jasmine is just coming into bloom. How wonderfully sweet & delicate it is! Had not seen it for thirty-four years. But I knew it, & remembered its fragrance. If you have time to read this letter to 'Viney, Anna & and Alice, or to mail it to them, I think it would interest them. Send love to each one of all these households. Au revoir H.The Literary Digest 354-360 Fourth Avenue NEW YORK EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT April 1920 Dear Sir: What shall be our next President? Whom would YOU choose for the nomination. PLEASE ANSWER. The question is becoming more absorbing every day, and the tremendous problems the next President must grapple with make it imperative that the right candidates, in all parties, be selected by the people themselves. That's why this letter is sent to you. We help a special editorial conference just before writing this letter, and devised a plan to give you a voice in the selection--a voice the politicians will heed. We are now writing to you and other representative citizens for this purpose. The Literary Digest, in short, is arranging for a NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY more important than anything ever attempted in a Presidential year. PLEASE BE SURE TO USE THE ENCLOSED BALLOT. But first consider these facts: The recent State elections did not settle the big issues. Some of them seem more unsettled than ever. Law and order scored a big victory in Massachusetts in the bitter campaign which followed the Boston police strike, but in many places the defiance of law and government and the propaganda of Bolshevism are increasingly aggressive. The cost of living still goes up, and the rate of production grows less. Strikes continue. Threats of more war clash with efforts to establish peace. How shall we get rid of these troublesome things? When shall we be able to settle down in peace, and attend to business, and feel that each new day will not bring some new confusion, or threat, or added burden of cost for the necessities of life? What must our Government do? And what American business man, statesman, or soldier do you think is best fitted to grapple with the big job, as our next President? The editors of the Literary Digest earnestly ask you to favor them with your answer, confidentially. Don't let the politicians decide the matter their own way without hearing from you. The National election is coming very soon. The Presidential campaign will be in full swing almost before we know it, and many questions of the gravest importance are going to be discussed. The country needs your active participation and personal influence in choosing the right man for President and in getting at the right solution of the national problems. Next November we must answer the questions that are crowding upon us--such as these: How lessen strikes? How insure a square deal and decent living to workers, also a square deal and safety to business? How cut the cost of living and bring sugar, meat, shoes, clothing, etc., back within our reach? How settle the "wet" and "dry" controversy? What must be our attitude toward the needs and quarrels of foreign nations? Of course none of us are ready to answer these questions offhand, and so it is very important to study them closely as they are being discussed through the campaign. To this end we urge you to do two definite things, that together we may all be better prepared to save our country from its difficulties and ourselves from possible disaster. THE FIRST THING IS THIS: HELP NOW, by naming your choice on the enclosed Primary Ballot, to select the right man for our next President. This Ballot is of great importance. It is stamped and ready for mailing. We are sending this letter to you and to other leading business and professional men and women in all political parties, who represent the thought and activities of the Nation in every department of its life. The Literary Digest is always and strictly non partisan